Review into Public Service Commission’s Facebook ‘mega strike’ ads now months overdue
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
The independent review into the Public Service Commission’s purchase of social media adverts running in the lead-up to the public sector’s “mega strike” is more than two months overdue.
Set to be completed at the end of March, the review will decide whether the commission breached any rules by paying for Facebook ads criticising the mega public sector negotiations strike in October last year.
A commission spokesperson confirmed to The Post that the review had not yet been completed, despite an indicative due date of late March ‒ about two and a half months ago.
The spokesperson said it was important the reviewer had sufficient time to complete the work thoroughly and the final report, or summary of it, would be made publicly available, subject to any applicable privacy or other legal considerations.
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The report is expected sometime this month, a written answer by Minister for the Public Service Paul Goldsmith revealed.
The review follows a complaint laid by Labour’s public service spokesperson, Camilla Belich, to the commission in December after writing to the auditor-general in November requesting a review, saying at the time the ads weaponised the Public Service Commission against striking workers.
The review will assist the commission in understanding whether it followed all appropriate processes, procedures, guidance and standards, the spokesperson said.
“An external review was the right step to provide that understanding.”
Belich said Labour would be raising the overdue review with the commission this week as part of scrutiny week.
“I think it's important that the Public Service Commission has clear guidelines on how they do use public funds, especially during a bargaining process.”
She said they hoped the internal review would provide answers, but warned they would consider asking the auditor-general to revisit the matter if concerns remained.
“[The auditor-general] has the role of deciding whether public money has been used in an appropriate way.
“We will be looking carefully at the report and deciding whether we think we should be approaching the auditor-general to get another look at this, and we certainly hope that they do that on their own.”
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said it was not appropriate for public money to be spent advertising against striking workers, calling it “an extraordinary breach of political neutrality” that needed close examination.
The total cost of the Facebook ads was $426.41.